My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #845

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #845 from the issue of April 10, 2023 is straight out of the wizarding world. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Robert Leighton.

"It has come to my attention that your daughter believes in science."

April 23, 2023 Update:  The Finalists

May 1, 2023 Update:  Tough choice. I waved my wand and voted for the caption from Severna Park.

May 12, 2023 Update:  The Winner

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The CartoonStock Caption Contest #161

There's something magical about the CartoonStock Caption Contest #161. To recap, here's how the contest works: $5 buys you three entries. Real cash prizes are $500 for first place and $100 for each of the five runners up. As of this writing, I've invested $35 in this my seventh pay contest and I managed to win $100 on the previous outing. Odds remain good for now while few people enter. My three new entries are shown below at the top of the list; the lower captions were considered by me but ultimately not entered. The drawing of an onstage rabbit abandoned mid-act in a magician's hat is by Avi Steinberg.

"Did all you federal agents really think you could outsmart the greatest magician of our time?"
"But he promised not to go to Aruba without me!"
"Never mind him. It's a snug hat and you don't want to know where the dove is."
* * *
"I need a volunteer from the audience eager to adopt a performing pet."
"His last words were 'Rabbits make such loving pets.'"

December 21, 2022 Update:  The Winner

January 22, 2023 Update:  The contest deliberations have been posted on YouTube.

Contest #161 Deliberations

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The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest #92

The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest #92 comes with words of explanation that demonstrate editors can misread cartoons as well as the rest of us: "This week’s cartoon of a wizard waiting for an elevator comes from Lars Kenseth." Call me a stickler, but there are two figures here, not just a wizard, and they are inside an elevator, not waiting for it. The elevator is heading down and the wizard is carrying a box with his office belongings. My captions await you in the lobby.

"You'll never guess who's transphobic."
"This firm has lost its magic."
"My charms must have worn off."
"I forgot my wand. But I gained a stapler."

September 24, 2020 Update:  The Winner

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Lars Kenseth

Magic

  

The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

The Moment Magazine Cartoon Caption Contest

All the Collected Cartoon Caption Contests

Attempted Bloggery's Spellbound Index

 

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #647

I should have shredded my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #647 for January 21, 2018. The drawing is by P. C. Vey.

"Now you see my assistant's non-disclosure agreement—wait a minute!"

January 28, 2019 Update:  The Finalists

February 4, 2019 Update:  I voted for the second caption.


February 11, 2019 Update:  The Winner

Note:  Last week cartoonist Joe Dator took us ski jumping. My caption didn't quite make it. Ride along with Contest #646.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

P. C. Vey

Magic

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

The Moment Magazine Cartoon Caption Contest

The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest

All These Cartoon Caption Contests and More

Attempted Bloggery's Misdirected Index

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Otto Soglow: 1974 Reuben Awards Dinner Program

What should we make of Otto Soglow's program cover for the National Cartoonists Society 1974 Reuben Awards Dinner? The dinner was held on April 22, 1974, with the program cover design capped by the arc of a baseball, reminding us that the new baseball season is underway. The illustration seems both lighthearted and surreal, part disembodied magic act and part lurid sideshow, with the coveted Reuben award depicted as a bearded bathing beauty being offered to a faceless—at least until the winner is announced—tuxedoed recipient. And the winner is...

Otto Soglow
The Cartoonist, 1974

Note:  My thanks once again to Stephen Kroninger for providing Attempted Bloggery with this scarce Soglow scan.

Otto Soglow had a uniquely economic style. I'd be happy to present more scans or photographs of his original art—hint, hint. Images of published rarities such as this NCS cover are also welcome.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Otto Soglow

Stephen Kroninger

Attempted Bloggery's Award-Shunning Index

Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

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License Plate for Tinkerbell?

Do you believe in fairies?

—J. M. Barrie

"PIX1E"
New Jersey license plate

Note:  I'm always happy to receive photos of creative license plates.

Quick links to this blog:

License plates

Disney

Magic

Peter Pan

Attempted Bloggery's Magical index

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Peter Arno: The Magician's Secret

Ten years ago, Russ Cochran auctioned off an original gag cartoon by Peter Arno. The problem for buyers was that the caption wasn't reported and the date was given erroneously as circa 1950—it was published in 1928. This is why it's important to have a copy of The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker (2004) handy. The artwork was sold for $1,500, one hopes to a buyer who had done his homework.

The cartoon shows a magic act at a carnival sideshow. Signs promote the "Fattest Woman" and "La Belle Fatima," suggesting the grotesque and the exotic. Arno very skillfully has given the speaker a facial expression that shows him comically unsure of himself. The speaker is dressed in the darkest outfit deliberately set against the whitest part of the paper. The lines of the magician's box point horizontally to the speaker's head, while a line drawn through the heads of the men onstage leads diagonally to the speaker.The two men on the left have their heads turned to direct the reader's eye into the cartoon while the man on the right leans in toward and directly against the speaker.

Russ Cochran's Comic Art Auction, June 16, 2006, Lot 50

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2103372_arno-new-yorker-1950s-cartoon-original-comic-art

"Fake, ain't it?"
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, May 8, 1928, page 13

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1928-08-11#folio=012

"Fake, ain't it?"
Peter Arno, Original art, The New Yorker, May 8, 1928, page 13

Almost ninety years on, this trick is still a staple of magic acts. It still fascinates us long after carnival sideshows have vanished. Referring to the trick as "Fake" is itself a sophisticated reaction, as it shows the speaker's awareness that he's being had, but then that telling "ain't it?" undercuts his intellect and betrays some primal uncertainty about what his eyes are telling him. It's simply remarkable the way this cartoon, in just three words, can—pardon the expression—cut both ways.


Note:  You know the drill:  Clicking on the aqua links will magically transport you to more blog posts about Peter Arno or original New Yorker cartoon art. Abracadabra!

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Cyrk: Sawing the Woman in Two

Polish circus posters are among the most inventive produced anywhere. Here's an especially amusing one of a magician performing a classic trick. It is being offered this week at Skinner.

Polish Circus Poster

Skinner Listing Closing May 22, 2015

http://skinnerlive.auctionserver.net/view-auctions/catalog/id/183/lot/80086/

May 22, 2015 Update: Sold!

The Hammer Price

Price with Buyer's Premium

Skinner Bid History

Note:  Now you see it! There's more here on the blog about poster art.

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My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #464

Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #464 for February 23, 2015. The drawing is by Liam Francis Walsh.

"Well, what did you think would be in my playroom?"

March 9, 2015 Update:  The Finalists

March 23, 2015 Update:  Winning Caption

Note:  Last time around, Michael Maslin took us to a desert island on horseback. My caption utterly threw me. See the unbridled results of Contest #463.

Liam Francis Walsh has performed magic here before.

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